Watched Palermo get a 1-0 lead in the first leg of their Serie C Playoff Final. Second leg is at home but still would’ve felt better with an insurance goal. Going to be a long week of waiting in between the two games.
My plans for the weekend have changed - if you find a local place that is showing the game or is willing to let me cast it from a mobile device, please let me know!
Did anyone see Belgium humiliate Poland? Lewandowski had the first against the run of play but that was it. It was all Belgium who looked like a juggernaut to me. I actually predicted them to win 4 years ago and while they made the final four they got no further. Kevin DeBruyne has to be one of the top CAM in the World and Eden Hazard lost all the weight he put on a couple years ago and with some younger kids complimenting the golden generation they look damn good. Frankowski did not play.
I didn't believe Belgium was as bad as they played against the Netherlands and I don't believe they are as good as they played against Poland. It was one way traffic for sure, but Poland was only down by a goal when Big Bob was subbed out. Hot take: I believe the USMNT can play with both Belgium and the Netherlands while Poland will struggle even more to qualify for major competitions after Big Bob is out of the picture.
Hazard, Witsel and Tielemans all looked good. But unlike Oranje, Poland's pressing was erratic at best. So it's hard to judge based on this game how these guys would fare against better opposition. I'm not surprised that these guys can still hurt teams when they get time on the ball.
UEFA Nations League Ireland v. Scotland. A likely snooze fest, but one never knows. Ireland is a bad team at the moment. Made up of players from lower league and bench warmers in the EPL (which sucks), they have not been good in years. They have never recovered from Thierry Henry's handball leading to Gallas' winning goal in the playoff for the 2010 World Cup. They made a couple of recent Euro finals, but were bad in those tournaments. That said, they just scored.
And Ireland is putting a hurt on a very tired looking Scotland squad. Ireland has never won a "Nations League" match; that is likely to change today. 3-0 in the 53rd minute.
Poland (without Lewandowski) v. Netherlands in a heck of a battle. 2-2 with 5 minutes to go. Edit: very late penalty call against Poland for a Matty Cash* handball in the box. Depay misses the penalty! Hits the outside of the post. The Dutch are throwing Everything at the Polish goal. *Matty Cash is English, with a Polish mother, and apparently does not speak a word of Polish.
Silly game between Northern Ireland and Cyprus. 2-2 draw, after Cyprus was up 2-nil, with Cyprus almost snatching a 95th minute winner (offsides). If I want to watch something stupid happening, I would watch Fire games. Oh, yeah, they have not played since May or won since March.